The Autumn Plunge has begun

October is in the books and it was a chilly one by 'normal' standards. My observed morning lows averaged almost 6 degrees under normal and daily highs were nearly 3 degrees under. We had an outbreak of early arctic air that led to a week of genuinely chilly mornings and that no doubt pushed the averages down. But honestly the whole month of October was pretty cool. There was not one single day in which the thermometer at my station was able to break through the 70° barrier. Along with the cooler temps was drier air with only about a third of normal precipitation falling. The last five days of the month had below freezing mornings and 4 of them were daily low records. Oddly the 27° mark on the morning of Halloween was three degrees warmer than the record at my station of 24° set back in 2006.

Overall the temps were cool and I had NINE daily record lows fall in October of 2019! That's nearly a third of the month with record lows! Despite the chilly morning temps, the all time record at my station for October was safe as that was the aforementioned 24° on Halloween, 2006. I did get a 24.1 on the 30th this year which was the coldest temp of the month and just a tenth off the all time mark. I even had a coldest daytime high all time record for the month of October when the merc only reached 45.5 on the 29th. The warmest temp was on the afternoon of the the 6th when we got oh so close to seventy with a mark of 69.4°. We had one warm overnight low of 50.4° on the 16th. October 2019 gave us seven days with morning lows below freezing, and more than half the month failed to reach 60°.

The rain bucket stayed pretty dry only catching 1.64 inches well below the typical 4.15 inches for October. Just 9 days with any rain and not a single day over 1/2 inch. There were just three days over a 1/4 inch. The soggiest day this October could muster was a 0.44 inch on the 17th.

So is this cold October a herald for what is to come this winter? It is hard to say, but I do remember a chilly October back in 2003 that led to a snow event in late November and and very cold and snowy January 2004. That 2003-04 winter is the second snowiest I have on record at this location with nearly two feet falling that season. We can only wonder what dastardly deeds Old Man winter has planned. I like snow, so bring it on ;)

A cool and wet September and a new Fall

Hello October! It really is Autumn now, seriously it's getting chilly. The Fall season of 2019 decided to make an early appearance this year with a wet and frankly cool September. Temps were well under average by day and due largely to extension cloud cover a bit above average by night. I don't know if this is a harbinger of what's to come this winter season but if it is, get your waterproof gear and some heavy sweaters it's gonna be nippy.

September was mild and daytime highs were well below the average with 69.85° against the 'normal' 73.63°. Overnight lows stayed a bit warm with several cloudy night trapping that warmer daytime air at the surface. The month averaged 54.77° overnight about 3 over. September managed to come and go without a single day in the 90s. The warmest day was the 5th with an 85.8° mark. Humidity was higher than typical and that really felt like a 90 plus day. That was also one of five days at or above 80° all of which occurred in the first half of the month. The latter half of September is generally the start of the 'Autumn slide' in temps and that was the case this year as well. The warmest overnight low came on the morning of the 1st with a rather balmy 64.6°.

But September wasn't about warmth this go round. In fact I had a few record cold temps for my locale. More than half the days failed to breech the 70° ceiling, two days failed to make 60° and the 29th topped out at a Thanksgiving-ish 49.6°. I had to go back and double check the daily log to make sure the station didn't go down in the afternoon for a few hours. It did not. The 29th had the coldest daytime high I have ever recorded in September, at this station dating to 2003. Earlier that morning recorded a daily low record of 43 but that was nowhere near a monthly record. I also had a daily record low on the last morning of the month with the chilliest day of the month at 35.4° still well off my all time monthly low of 34°. We had just six days of mostly sunshine and 15 days with rain.

After August was wetter than average yielding 1.58 inches of rain, September gave us October like numbers in the rain bucket with 4.07 inches. That is well above my 2.47 inch 17 year average for the month. We had a few squalls that produce thunder, lightning and hail along with some drenching rainfall. 1.01 inches fell on the 8th. We had six days produce a 1/4 inch or more. On the 28th a late afternoon thunderstorm produced a rapid 1/2 inch of rain and dumped nearly an inch of hail that stayed on the ground for half an hour. If this past month is a herald, holy cow things are going to get wild!

October may bring us some nice weather for a few days of Indian Summer, but I wouldn't count on it. The latest I have ever recorded an 80° high was October 16th and the 17th is the latest I have ever recorded a 75° high. The NWS is calling for a few nice days in the upper 60s and some sunshine, but also several days of rain. If we get to mid October without any summerish weather, that's all she wrote.

Get out and soak it up my friends, soak it up.